English

Proper noun

Lively

1. A surname​.

Derived terms

• Lively Island

English

Alternative forms

• lifely (obsolete)

Adjective

lively ‎(comparative livelier, superlative liveliest)

1. Full of life; energetic.
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     But wherefore comes old Manoa in such haste, / With youthful steps? Much livelier than erewhile / He seems.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.

   • 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3-1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport:

     But with the lively Dos Santos pulling the strings behind strikers Pavlyuchenko and Defoe, Spurs controlled the first half without finding the breakthrough their dominance deserved.

2. Bright; vivid; glowing; strong; vigorous.
   • 1704, Isaac Newton, Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light

     The colours of the prism are manifestly more full, intense, and lively that those of natural bodies.

   • 1688, Robert South, Sacramental Preparation: Set forth in a Sermon on Matthew 5, 12.

     His faith must be not only living, but lively too.

3. (archaic) Endowed with or manifesting life; living.
   • c. 1600, Philemon Holland

     chaplets of gold and silver resembling lively flowers and leaves

4. (archaic) Representing life; lifelike.
   • 1632, Philip Massinger and Nathan Field, The Fatal Dowry

     I spied the lively picture of my father.

5. (archaic) Airy; animated; spirited.
   • 1734, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

     From grave to gay, from lively to severe.

6. (of beer) Fizzy; foamy; tending to produce a large head in the glass.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "lively" is often applied: person, character, lady, woman, man, audience, personality, art, guide, activity, game, lesson, introduction, discussion, debate, writing, image, town, city, village, etc.

Derived terms

• liveliness
• look lively

Translations

Noun

lively ‎(plural livelies)

1. (nautical) Term of address.
   • 1846, Herman Melville, Typee

     Speak the word, my livelies, and I'll pilot her in.

Etymology 2

From Old English līflīċe.

Adverb

lively ‎(comparative more lively, superlative most lively)

1. (obsolete) In a lifelike manner.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.i:

     Him to a dainty flowre she did transmew, / Which in that cloth was wrought, as if it liuely grew.

   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.220-1:

     the Painter Protogenes […] having perfected the image of a wearie and panting dog, […] but being unable, as he desired, lively to represent the drivel or slaver of his mouth, vexed against his owne worke, took his spunge, and moist as it was with divers colours, threw it at the picture […].

2. Vibrantly, vividly.

Translations

Anagrams

• evilly
• vilely